Still needing to be held during naps

July-Love-05

 DD will be 3 months on Thursday and she still requires me to hold her while she naps. As soon as I put her down, she wakes up. When did you ladies notice an improvement in napping on their own?

Please tell me everything gets better sooner then later...she is still super fussy and wakes every one to two hours to eat at night (EBF). DS was so super easy and we had no problems like we do with her.

AvidVertigo

H did this to me last night.  No more than I would go to lay him down he would wake up.  My DH came home and took him and he was out like a light for him.  I think they just know we have their food for them and they just have a very big attachment to us. 

juliane2004

The waking-up-after-being-put-down thing is normal. Aside from CIO (which we did at 5/6 months), we would swaddle DD, put a shirt or pjs that smell like me under her, and have a fan (whitenoise) and a fisher price aquarium music playing (18 minutes). The biggest key is to put them down awake, not sleeping, so they can A. learn to fall asleep on their own and B. if they wake up, they are not startled by being somewhere new (i.e. like not in your arms anymore).

KristinKD

Do you swaddle? It was at three months that I started working more on getting DD2 to nap in her crib, and I had to swaddle her because otherwise she'd startle herself awake as soon as I'd lay her down. Now I swaddle her, shush-pat her to sleep on my shoulder, and lay her down and pat her a little more if she needs it.

synchrosally

It takes a LOT of rocking to get DS to nap.  He fights them like crazy and will often fuss/whine/cry/bang his head on my chest while I'm trying to get him to nap.  Once he's asleep, I have to very very carefully put him down and leave my hand under him and one on his chest until I can be sure he's not going to wake up.  Sometimes I have to put my hand back on his chest for him to relax completely.  I would suggest trying to put her down for at least one nap and see how that goes.  Good luck.

bonnin507

juliane2004:

The waking-up-after-being-put-down thing is normal. Aside from CIO (which we did at 5/6 months), we would swaddle DD, put a shirt or pjs that smell like me under her, and have a fan (whitenoise) and a fisher price aquarium music playing (18 minutes). The biggest key is to put them down awake, not sleeping, so they can A. learn to fall asleep on their own and B. if they wake up, they are not startled by being somewhere new (i.e. like not in your arms anymore).

what do you use to determine when it's time to put her down?  do you look for her tells (sleepy ques) or do you have a set time?  we have tried to put DD down while still awake when she starts to rub her eyes.  She starts out very content in her bed w/ aquarium playing but after 10-15min she starts to fuss & then she goes into an all out bawling cry.  We've tried to go in to soothe her & then leave again but she continues to cry until we pick her up.  she does not go to sleep after this either so I don't know if she gets a 2nd wind & bypasses the nap or if she just wasn't tired the 1st time.

juliane2004

bonnin507:

juliane2004:

The waking-up-after-being-put-down thing is normal. Aside from CIO (which we did at 5/6 months), we would swaddle DD, put a shirt or pjs that smell like me under her, and have a fan (whitenoise) and a fisher price aquarium music playing (18 minutes). The biggest key is to put them down awake, not sleeping, so they can A. learn to fall asleep on their own and B. if they wake up, they are not startled by being somewhere new (i.e. like not in your arms anymore).

what do you use to determine when it's time to put her down?  do you look for her tells (sleepy ques) or do you have a set time?  we have tried to put DD down while still awake when she starts to rub her eyes.  She starts out very content in her bed w/ aquarium playing but after 10-15min she starts to fuss & then she goes into an all out bawling cry.  We've tried to go in to soothe her & then leave again but she continues to cry until we pick her up.  she does not go to sleep after this either so I don't know if she gets a 2nd wind & bypasses the nap or if she just wasn't tired the 1st time.

We use mostly tired signs now (at 11 months) but between 2-10 months, we used this guideline, which was pretty darn accurate up until about 6 months (at which time, DD could only do 2-2.5 hrs of awake time all the way till 10 months):

Guideline for Awake time for babies
Newborn 50-60 mins
1 month 60 mins-hour and 15
2 months 1 hour and 15 - 20 mins
3 months 1 hour and 20 - 30 mins
4 months 1 hour and 45 - 2 hours
5 months 2 hours - 2.25 hours
Late 5 months/early 6 months 2.25-2.5 hours
6.5 - 7 months 2.75-3 hours. Some are getting more.
8 - 10 months 3 - 4 hours. Some are getting more.
11 - 12 months 3.5 -4.5 hours. Some are getting more if moved early to 1 nap 

We actually found that if we went past these guidelines and looked for tired signs instead, we were too late and she was actually over-tired and wouldnt nap well.

Also, this is a guideline for awake time which includes everything awake, like eating, playing, diapering, and the time it takes to fall asleep. So if DD (at 3 months) had an ideal awake time of 1 hr 30 minutes, I'd put her down at 1 hr 10-15 minutes, allowing 15-20 minutes for falling asleep - typical length for babies.

WildcatPrincess

KristinKD:

Do you swaddle? It was at three months that I started working more on getting DD2 to nap in her crib, and I had to swaddle her because otherwise she'd startle herself awake as soon as I'd lay her down.

This exactly!!  Honestly I'm still bad about it though.  I love when she sleeps on me.